Microsoft needs help from Sony

Those itching to take Crazy Taxi: World Tour for a test drive can now sign up for their chance, as developer Sega has announced a multiplayer closed network test. Crazy Taxi: World Tour's closed network test will run September 11-13 in the US. Those interested will need to sign up on the game's website by August 31. The test will be available on all of Crazy Taxi: World Tour's announced platforms (Xbox Series X|S, PC, and PlayStation 5), though Sega states on its website that certain platforms "may have limited participant capacity." The announcement of the network test comes alongside a new trailer highlighting the game's West Coast, a location that will look familiar to fans of Sega's manic driving franchise but will be just one of its playable locations. It is called "World Tour" after all, though Sega has not yet announced additional locales as of yet.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XordDIexPAQ Crazy Taxi: World Tour was announced as part of the Xbox Games Showcase in June, with its debut trailer featuring a classic song from the original Crazy Taxi that is most often associated with the series, The Offspring's 'All I Want.' However, Sega quickly found itself in hot water after it was revealed by the game's Steam page that Crazy Taxi: World Tour was made in part with generative AI. A blurb on the Steam page states "We use generative AI as a support tool for developers, aiming to provide better content to our users and enable developers to focus on creative tasks." In a statement to Game Informer, Sega said it used gen AI to develop background assets. Franchise creator Kenji Kanno later defended the studio's use of AI in an interview, stating that the team used gen AI to generate ideas and as a reference, but that actual in-game assets were being created by humans.  World Tour will be the first mainline entry in the Crazy Taxi franchise since 2002's Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller, and is slated to release in 2027.  View the full article

Psychonauts developer Double Fine Productions was among the five studios spun off from Xbox as part of its ongoing restructuring, and while it (thankfully) avoided closure, the divorce has forced the team to make cuts. Specifically, the studio has announced the departures of 23 staff members. In a post shared on social media, Double Fine head/founder Tim Schafer writes,  “As a small, tightly-knit team, these actions are not taken lightly. Only the survival of our studio would ever make us consider such a painful action. Our transition to becoming an independent company also means becoming a size that we can sustain.” Double Fine states it is working with affected staff “as best we can” during their transition.  Double Fine was granted independence from Xbox alongside South of Midnight developer Compulsion Games earlier this month; both studios retained their IP and game catalogs as part of the split. Xbox also spun off three other studios; Ninja Theory and Undead Labs were sold to unspecified buyers, and Arkane Studios' fate remains up in the air as it undergoes mandatory consultation in France.  Double Fine's most recent release is the pottery-themed multiplayer party game Kiln, which launched in April. Under Xbox's ownership, the team shipped Psychonauts 2 in 2021 and Keeper in 2025.  View the full article